In Romans 5:12, we see the reach of the curse. Sin and its consequence of death has “spread to all people.” The consequences of Eden didn’t stay tucked away in the garden; they spilled out onto the entire world. Why? Because the “one man” through whom sin entered was no ordinary man. He was humanity’s representative, representing all of us before God. Whatever happened to Adam on that patch of grass in Eden happened to us. We inherited a sinful status, a broken inner nature, and a body now capable of decay. Furthermore, the fall not only separated humanity from God, but it created a relationship of strife between us and our environment, a fallen world infested with thorns. The perfect harmony between God, man, land, and beasts was destroyed—all based on Adam’s work. And as Romans 5:14 laments, death has been reigning as the circumstance for humans ever since.
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned. In fact, sin was in the world before the law, but sin is not charged to a person’s account when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam’s transgression. He is a type of the Coming One.
Romans 5:12-14 (CSB)
If this situation frustrates you, it should. When it mattered most, the one responsible for overseeing the wellbeing of the entire human race looked out only for himself and lost us everything. Which is why we need another “one.” A “Coming One,” as verse 14 puts it. And because sin is a human heart problem, for justice to be served, a human must rectify it. If our first representative—our first Adam—created the problem, only another representative—a second Adam—can rectify it. That is exactly who Christ is—the second Adam who has come to succeed where humanity’s first representative failed.
Romans 5:15-21 uses a simple compare and contrast device to draw distinctions between Adam’s work and Jesus’s work. In each comparison, we see a great reversal—the second Adam (Christ) getting us out of the mess that the first Adam got us into. Where Adam brought condemnation and chaos, Christ brings righteousness and order. Where Adam saddles us with a guilty sentence before God, Christ declares us justified before Him. Where Adam brought darkness and death, Christ brings light and life. In short, we go from curse back to blessing.
But the gift is not like the trespass. For if by the one man’s trespass the many died, how much more have the grace of God and the gift which comes through the grace of the one man Jesus Christ overflowed to the many. And the gift is not like the one man’s sin, because from one sin came the judgment, resulting in condemnation, but from many trespasses came the gift, resulting in justification. If by the one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. So then, as through one trespass there is condemnation for everyone, so also through one righteous act there is justification leading to life for everyone. For just as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. The law came along to multiply the trespass. But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 5:15-21 (CSB)
But it’s not just a one-for-one trade off, for God is not just fair, He’s generous. By repeating the phrase “how much more” twice in this passage (Romans 5:15, Romans 5:17), Paul’s big takeaway for us is that God’s grace is shockingly disproportionate to Adam’s offense. Although examples of sin and death multiply all around us, God’s grace has a stronger multiplication rate. It blows right past the level of sin and death in this world, breeding faster than they ever could! The damage done by Adam might feel like it is tenfold in this life, but restoration in Christ will be a hundredfold. As one theologian noted, “Christ is much more powerful to save than Adam was to destroy.” Indeed—this is what verse 20 means when it says “where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more!”
As our first representative, the curse that fell upon Adam in Eden fell on all of us; but in Christ, our second representative, the situation is reversed. In fact, because of the multiplying power of God’s grace, it is more than just reversed. This means we don’t just get our bad deeds erased from the ledger; we get a new ledger filled to the brim with righteous deeds—the very righteousness of Christ Himself fills in our record before God! It means we don’t just get life back; we get immortal, resurrected, glorified life, body and soul (see 1 Corinthians 15). Though death reigned for a short period of time for those in Adam, the era of resurrection life will multiply out into forever for those in Christ.
It also means that we don’t just get a garden back, we get a whole world restored and renewed. And more than just restored and renewed, we get a world fully cultivated into the perfect, finished shape it was always supposed to take—the shape humanity should have cultivated it into from the start! Nancy Guthrie sums it up well.
God is, even now, working out his plan to do far more than simply restore his creation to the state of integrity that was Eden. Christ came to accomplish what was necessary to open the way for us, not just back into the garden of Eden, but into a home that will be even better than Eden, and a life that will be even better than the life Adam and Eve enjoyed there.
Nancy Guthrie
Joy to the world, indeed. For Christ has come to reverse the tide—to extend His restorative and immortal blessings as far as the curse is found. The curse of sin and death may hang heavy over every square inch of this world because of the first Adam, but in Jesus the curse is lifted, and one day we will join in His unimaginable glory.